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A mountain separating two lakes.

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A room papered floor to 
ceiling with bridal satins.

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The lid of an immense snuffbox.

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These seemingly unrelated images take 
us on a tour of a sperm whale’s head

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in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

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On the surface,

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the book is the story of Captain Ahab’s 
hunt for revenge against Moby Dick,

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the white whale who bit off his leg.

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But though the book features pirates,
typhoons, high-speed chases,

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and giant squid,

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you shouldn’t expect a conventional 
seafaring adventure.

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Instead, it’s a multilayered exploration 
of not only the intimate details

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of life aboard a whaling ship,

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but also subjects from across human 
and natural history,

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by turns playful and tragic, humorous 
and urgent.

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The narrator guiding us through these 
explorations

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is a common sailor called Ishmael.

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Ishmael starts out telling his own story

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as he prepares to escape the “damp and
drizzly November in [his] soul”

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by going to sea.

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But after he befriends the Pacific 
Islander Queequeg

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and joins Ahab’s crew aboard the Pequod,

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Ishmael becomes more of an omniscient 
guide for the reader

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than a traditional character.

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While Ahab obsesses over revenge and first
mate Starbuck tries to reason with him,

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Ishmael takes us on his own 
quest for meaning

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throughout “the whole universe, not 
excluding its suburbs.”

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In his telling, life’s biggest questions 
loom large, even in the smallest details.

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Like his narrator, Melville was a 
restless and curious spirit,

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who gained an unorthodox education
working as a sailor

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on a series of grueling voyages around 
the world in his youth.

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He published Moby-Dick in 1851,

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when the United States’ whaling 
industry was at its height.

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Nantucket, where the Pequod sets sail,

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was the epicenter of this lucrative 
and bloody global industry

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which decimated the world’s 
whale populations.

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Unusually for his time,

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Melville doesn’t shy away from 
the ugly side of this industry,

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even taking the whale’s 
perspective at one point,

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when he speculates on how terrifying 
the huge shadows of the ships must be

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to the creature swimming below.

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The author’s first-hand familiarity with 
whaling is evident over and over again

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in Ishmael’s vivid descriptions.

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In one chapter, the skin 
of a whale’s penis

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becomes protective clothing 
for a crewman.

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Chapters with titles as unpromising as 
“Cistern and Buckets”

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become some of the novel’s most 
rewarding

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as Ishmael compares bailing out a 
sperm-whale’s head to midwifery,

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which leads to reflections on Plato.

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Tangling whale-lines provoke witty 
reflections

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on the “ever-present perils” 
entangling all mortals.

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He draws on diverse branches of knowledge,
like zoology, gastronomy, law, economics,

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mythology, and teachings from a range 
of religious and cultural traditions.

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The book experiments with writing style 
as much as subject matter.

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In one monologue, Ahab challenges 
Moby Dick in Shakespearean style:

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“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying 
but unconquering whale;

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to the last I grapple with thee; 
from hell’s heart I stab at thee;

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for hate’s sake I spit my last 
breath at thee.”

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One chapter is written as a playscript,

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where members of the Pequod’s multi-ethnic
crew chime in individually and in chorus.

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African and Spanish sailors trade insults 
while a Tahitian seaman longs for home,

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Chinese and Portuguese crewmembers 
call for a dance,

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and one young boy prophesies disaster.

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In another chapter, Ishmael sings the 
process

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of decanting whale oil in epic style,

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as the ship pitches and rolls in the 
midnight sea

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and the casks rumble like landslides.

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A book so wide-ranging has something 
for everyone.

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Readers have found religious and political
allegory, existential enquiry,

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social satire, economic analysis,

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and representations of American 
imperialism,

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industrial relations and racial conflict.

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As Ishmael chases meaning and Ahab 
chases the white whale,

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the book explores the opposing forces 
of optimism and uncertainty,

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curiosity and fear that characterize human
existence

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no matter what it is we’re chasing.

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Through Moby Dick’s many pages,

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Melville invites his readers to leap into 
the unknown,

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to join him on the hunt for the 
“ungraspable phantom of life.”